Frances Shand Kydd

Early life

Frances Ruth Roche was born on 20 January 1936 at Park House, located on the royal estate at Sandringham in Norfolk. Her birth was on the same day as the death of King George V. Her father was Maurice Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy, a friend of King George VI and the elder son of the American heiress Frances Ellen Work and her first husband, the 3rd Baron Fermoy. Since birth, she held the style of The Honourable as the daughter of a baron. She was educated at Downham School in Essex.

Marriage and children

On 1 June 1954, she married John Spencer, Viscount Althorp (later the 8th Earl Spencer), at Westminster Abbey. Aged 18, she became the youngest woman to marry at Westminster Abbey since 1893.

They had five children:

• Lady Sarah McCorquodale (born 19 March 1955), who married Neil Edmund McCorquodale, a second cousin once removed of her stepmother, Raine, Countess Spencer.
• Lady Jane Fellowes (born 11 February 1957), who married Robert Fellowes, Baron Fellowes, then Private Secretary to the Sovereign.
• The Honourable John Spencer (12 January 1960 – 12 January 1960), died within ten hours of his birth
• Diana, Princess of Wales (1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), first wife of Charles III.
• Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer (born 20 May 1964), who married firstly Victoria Lockwood, secondly Caroline Freud (née Hutton and former wife of Matthew Freud), and thirdly, Karen Villeneuve until 2024.

According to leading gossip columnist and author Penny Junor "Johnny could be violent, and [Frances] felt she and her children would be safer out of the home." Their daughter Diana also recalled "seeing my father slap my mother across the face and I was hiding behind the door and she was crying."

Divorce and remarriage

Her marriage to Viscount Althorp was not a happy one and, in 1967, she left him to be with Peter Shand Kydd, an heir to a wallpaper fortune in Australia, whom she had met the year before. His half-brother was the former champion amateur jockey William Shand Kydd (1937–2014), who was the brother-in-law of John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan. He was granted custody of their children by the courts after his former mother-in-law, Lady Fermoy, testified against her own daughter Frances.

Frances and Peter Shand Kydd were married on 2 May 1969 and lived on the Scottish island of Seil, where they bought an 18th-century farmhouse called Ardencaple, 10 kilometres from Oban. She divided her time between London, Seil and another sheep farm in Yass, New South Wales. On 14 July 1976, John Spencer, now the 8th Earl Spencer, married Raine, Countess of Dartmouth, daughter of the novelist Dame Barbara Cartland. Although Frances lived a quiet life, she was thrust into public view following the engagement of her daughter Diana to Prince Charles (later Charles III) on 24 February 1981. Frances and her second husband Peter separated in June 1988. In 1993 Peter Shand Kydd married Marie-Pierre Palmer (née Bécret), a French woman who ran a champagne-importing business in London.

Later years

In 1996, she was banned from driving after being convicted of drunk driving, but denied she had a problem with alcohol. She and Diana quarrelled in May 1997, after Frances told Hello! magazine it was "absolutely wonderful" that Diana had lost her title of "Her Royal Highness" following her divorce from Charles. They were reportedly not on speaking terms at the time of Diana's death.

She spent her later years in solitude on Seil. She became a Catholic and devoted herself to Catholic charities. She eventually became involved with The Hosanna House and Children's Pilgrimage Trust, the Royal National Mission for Deep Sea Fishermen, the Mallaig and Northwest Fishermen's Association, and the National Search and Rescue Dogs Association.

In October 2002, when Frances left her Scottish home to give testimony at the trial of Diana's former butler, Paul Burrell, burglars targeted her house and stole her jewellery.

Death and burial

Frances died at her home in Scotland on 3 June 2004, aged 68, following a long illness that included Parkinson's disease and brain cancer. Her funeral was held at St Columba's Cathedral in Oban on 10 June, attended by her children, sister and grandchildren, including Princes William (who gave a reading) and Harry. Their father, her former son-in-law, Charles, did not attend, as he was travelling to Washington to represent the Royal Family at the state funeral of the former US President Ronald Reagan the following day. Frances was buried in Pennyfuir Cemetery in Oban, Argyll and Bute.

Biography

In 2001, Maxine Riddington published a biographical book about her, entitled Frances: The Remarkable Story of Princess Diana's Mother.

Ancestry

References

Bibliography

References

1. England & Wales, Birth Index, Jan–Feb–Mar 1936, 4b 344, Freedbridge Lynn, Norfolk
2. Corby, Tom. (4 June 2004). "Frances Shand Kydd". The Guardian.
3. (4 June 2004). "Frances Shand Kydd". The Telegraph.
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5. Cohen, Rebecca. (8 October 2021). "Princess Diana once witnessed her father 'slap' her mother during the royal's tumultuous childhood, CNN doc details". Insider.
6. ''The Times (London)'', Thursday, 8 July 1993; p. 4 col. D and p. 19 col. A
7. "Ardencaple House, Isle of Seil". Geograph Britain and Ireland.
8. (4 June 2004). "Life of luxury stripped sparse by tragedy". Scotsman.
9. (21 June 1982). "Princess Diana enters hospital in early labor". Youngstown Vindicator.
10. (13 April 2012). "The truth about Di". [[Evening Standard]].
11. "Lonely End of Diana's Sad Mum – a Life of Turmoil for the Mother of the World's Tragic Princess – Family absent as Shand Kydd dies". [[Daily Record (Scotland)]].
12. Max Riddington. ''Frances – The Remarkable Story of Princess Diana's Mother''
13. Riddington, Max. (13 April 2012). "The truth about Di". The Standard.
14. (3 June 2004). "Obituary: Frances Shand Kydd". BBC.
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16. (3 June 2004). "Obituary: Frances Shand Kydd". The Telegraph.
17. (26 October 2002). "Profile: Frances Shand Kydd". The Herald.
18. (25 October 2002). "Burglars target Diana's mother". BBC.
19. "Princess Diana's mother dies after a long illness". HELLO! magazine.
20. (3 June 2004). "Diana's mother dies 'peacefully'". BBC.
21. Meade, Geoff. (4 June 2004). "Princes mourning their grandmother". The Journal.
22. (11 June 2004). "Diana's Mum Laid to Rest, Without Charles". People.
23. (10 June 2004). "Earl Spencer denies family rift". [[The Guardian]].
24. (2003). "Books". Michael O'Mara.